Hi everyone, Emilie from Star Seed here. Happy Thursday!
Today, the energy is creatively charged and as we weave the threads of time, this is a perfect moment to start incorporating what we have learnt, into the patterns of our artistic web. I felt called to an incredible yoga session this morning, at the Sangyé yoga studio in North London with Cat Alip-Douglas, who was teaching about living in the present, facing our challenges, showing up for ourselves and each other. A great reminder, that besides big beautiful words, we need to take action.
Last week, Ed and I were engaged in a very special event/festival/gathering/retreat at 42 Acres in Somerset. Although the weather was wet, windy and wrecking, we got through it and came out stronger and more connected on the other side - to each other and to the nature that surrounds us, encompasses our bodies, the nature that we are.
Thank you to the incredible team behind Primal Gathering, Medicine Festival & 42 Acres, for putting on what turned out to be a truly transformative week.
We learned so much, felt overwhelmed with inspiration and encouraged to take all this new knowledge and habits into our everyday lives.
Primal Gathering evening music sessions - here with Carrie Tree
----- Highlights of the week ----
Just incredible. For a week, we were eating completely vegan, hyperlocal, foraged, biodynamic, and it made us feel stronger & more resilient to the last forces of winter, trying to hold on for as long as possible, squeezing the clouds for as much rain as the sky could hold, prepping our soils for Spring. It was an absolute joy to eat such tasty exciting new food like Lions Mane Steak & Primrose Flower Salad.
2. Authentic Relating.
Sophie Yates' workshop was eye opening. It made me really think about how monotonous most of our everyday life conversations with friends and family can be, and how to dare to look deeper, ask better curious questions and instantly feel the benefits of holding and being held by the creative collective.
3. Sea Buckthorn Tree Planting.
Learning how easy it actually is to plant sea buckthorn trees and the incredible benefits they have on skin and our immune system. Together with the Primal Gathering and 42 Acres team, we planted more than 1,000 Sea Buckthorn Trees, during our field days.
4. Mushroom inoculation.
Learning about Birch Polypores and how to inoculate them on Birch at 42 Acres farm. Birch Polypore Mushrooms have been used by humans for thousands of years for their anti-sceptic, anti-inflammatory, anti-biotic, anti-viral and anti fungal properties. We inoculated them for harvest in 3-5 years time - a real patience game. We are of course super curious to see how they can play into Star Seed's regenerative skincare range. In fact, all of the fantastic foraging knowledge we absorbed throughout the week, was a real inspiration for my product development. Notes taken, next stop is a Spring foraging trip to the South Downes National Park over Easter.
Writing a letter to the future planet, to nature and in fact to ourselves, was a humbling emotional experience that brought us both to tears.
6. Playfulness
Ancestor evoking music, jam sessions, dancing wildly and freely. A bunch of fun.
7. Women's Work with Carolyn Hillyer
Singing in sisterhood, harmonising our 55 voices in a big beautiful women’s circle made me long for a place called home. Holding the ancient Mother Bear sculpture in my hands and breathing prayers of peace into the sacred pebbles, in support of the global sisterhood, powerful, mesmerising, important.
8. The people we met.
Meeting so many likeminded folks from all walks of life, age groups, backgrounds and with such a diversity of skills and experience, all working towards the same goal of treading lightly, consciously and peacefully on this Earth into a brighter future.
9. Evoked by the Zach Bush of it all.
How do you wrap up Zach Bush in a sentence? He is a visionary, life-loving source of inspiration, brought to us as a Star Seed, to remind us that the nature we think is separate from us, is in fact, living and breathing inside us. That by choosing to let nature see us, we ultimately see the beauty within ourselves, only to discover that everything is alive, everything is connected, everything is love.
10. Grounded by the Farhana Yamin of it all.
In a constructive, activist-led panel discussion, we were reminded of the importance of putting words into action. In the age of Storytelling and Information, we are learning new creative ways to evoke emotion and encourage real change, holding accountable the big corporations that are finally on the verge of collapse, due to decades of deceptive, manipulative behaviour. Making room for the birth of new, purer, hardworking regenerative and circular brands, entering into this new world that we are building together.
Overall, thank you so much to everyone involved. Our lives have been enriched with your presence and perspectives over the past few weeks. Excited to see what comes next, I am sure we will stay connected, and keep following our journey as we follow yours.
A Star Seed has been Sown..